


Inconvenient Truth

by KittiePhanatic



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Apocalypse, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Protective Klaus Hargreeves, Soft Diego Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25346329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittiePhanatic/pseuds/KittiePhanatic
Summary: Leonard wasn't Vanya's first relationship.  After hearing that her first-ever boyfriend recently passed away in his early thirties, Vanya is again reminded of her poor choices in men.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Kudos: 111





	Inconvenient Truth

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm writing this as a way of processing the early death of a previous boyfriend. See end notes for more.

Vanya Hargreeves walked out of the Umbrella Academy mansion, closing the doors behind her. Before heading down the street, she took one more look at her childhood home, thankful that it was still standing. And thankful that Pogo and Mom were still around. And also grateful that Allison got her voice back.

It had been a month since Number Five had successfully time-traveled the family back to the day that Luther would have had the family meeting about the apocalypse. By the time Vanya had regained consciousness, Diego had taken care of Leonard Peabody and he and Luther had easily disposed of the body. She reconciled with all of her siblings, who helped both her and Klaus control their powers.

Unfortunately, the time that it took Vanya to heal as much as she could from the events cost Vanya her job at the music school; because she could not support herself on teaching private violin lessons as well, Vanya had to move out of her apartment and back into the Academy. So now she had to find herself another job; anything.

She had just picked up her second job application and stepped outside when she saw a blonde-haired lady her age who looked familiar to her. 

"Vanya?" The woman stopped in front of her.

"Yes?" Vanya tried to place how she knew this woman.

"Jasmine," the woman said, making Vanya realize who she was before further explaining. "You introduced me and Rick to each other."

Of course. Rick Lowenstein. Besides Leonard, that was the only other guy Vanya had ever cared about. He was her first boyfriend from over ten years ago. Someone about whom she had never wanted to discuss. She had learned about Narcissistic Personality Disorder from her time with him. She put on a brave face and smiled back to the woman. "Oh, yeah. Um, how are you?"

"I'm fine," Jasmine said. "My son, Braden, he just turned nine."

"That's right," Vanya had remembered that the two had a kid together. "How is he doing?"

"He's good. Um, did you know that Rick actually died last year?"

Vanya felt instant shock, and then she composed herself. "No, I didn't! What happened?"

Jasmine shrugged. "I don't know. I only found out a couple of weeks ago on the library computer. Rick hadn't been in our lives since Braden was one. Braden's been asking about him, so I figured I should track him down. All I found was a death certificate dated July of last year. I couldn't find any obituary, though."

"Oh, my God," Vanya said. "He was only like thirty-two or thirty-three then." 

"His dad is still listed at the address when we were together. I'm probably going to try to get in touch and see what happened. Just so I can tell my son something."

Vanya nodded. Then she thought of something. "Um, I'm back at my childhood home. The number is listed. Can you call me if you ever find anything out?"

"Sure," Jasmine then pulled a pen and piece of paper out of her purse. "Here's my number, too. Well, it's too bad that your brother's doing drugs and can't find out for himself."

Vanya nodded, not wanting to reveal the truth about Klaus. That he had been clean for over a month while the siblings had helped him to control his power. In the end, Allison had wound up rumoring Klaus that he could only physically manifest the ghosts that he wanted to. Besides conjuring their father at the rave, and eventually conjuring the man he had lost in the Vietnam War, Klaus' powers otherwise remained dormant. "Okay," she finally said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vanya slowly walked back to the mansion, too shocked to continue job-searching for today. She didn't know what to think. At Rick's age, that was way too young to die, of course. But not at all too surprising, if Rick still had the drinking problem he did in their turbulent relationship. A toxic relationship that Vanya had not wanted to revisit before now. But she had to. This was the only other guy whom she had ever cared about, besides Leonard. She obviously wasn't good at selecting potential partners.

Vanya had just left the Academy and was attending music school when she met Rick. Three years her senior, Rick had initially seemed charming and gave Vanya the affection that Vanya had lacked throughout her childhood. Like Vanya, Rick seemed to lack self-confidence; as it turned out, however, that was all they seemed to have in common. The fact that Rick still lived with his parents, had no job, and had lost his license due to a DUI should have raised many red flags, but his personality melted her heart in the beginning. He was actually the one to whom Vanya had lost her virginity. 

Before long, however, Rick's controlling nature reared its ugly head. He became extremely jealous, an example being Joshua, a male conservatory student who Vanya had befriended but had no other interest besides that. Joshua had helped mentor Vanya in her violin playing, but when Rick called Josh on the phone harassing him, Josh distanced himself, which cost Vanya his friendship. It got to the point that Vanya knew she had needed to get out of this relationship but was afraid to. Rick had never physically harmed her, but more than anything she was afraid of being alone.

So, at the fast-food place where Vanya worked while in college, she met Jasmine. Like Rick, she enjoyed hiking and camping, something Vanya had never been into, and held similar political and religious beliefs. One day Rick came in about half an hour before Vanya and Jasmine's shift was over, and Vanya let the two of them talk. Within the next few days Vanya and Rick had mutually agreed to part ways and they broke up amicably. She and Jasmine remained friends until Jasmine quit her job and Vanya never saw her again...until now.

Everything about him she had wanted to forget, but now with this news she wound up reliving her time with Rick as she approached the Academy front doors. It was like she was the naive eighteen-year-old all over again, but at twenty-nine now, she clearly had not learned her lesson.

She slowly entered the Academy and trudged up the stairs.

"That's the wrong key, Diego!" Vanya heard Klaus exclaim from his room. Then she heard indeed out-of-tune strumming. Ever since the two brothers had decided to move back into the Academy, Klaus had been trying to teach Diego to play guitar. Operative word being  _ trying. _ Vanya knew as well as Klaus that Diego was tone-deaf. Since Diego and Klaus had always been relatively close (besides their constant bromantic bickering) and Vanya had only established a relationship with them after the family stopped the apocalypse, she felt it was best that Klaus try to teach him music. Based on what Vanya was hearing, she had turned out to be correct.

"What the hell!" Diego barked back. "I'm playing the A-string! How am I out of tune?"

"The guitar needs tuning," Klaus said as he glanced at Vanya now standing in the doorway. "Right, Vanya?"

Vanya forced a smile. "I'm not getting in the middle of this."

"Oh, what _ ever. _ " Klaus rolled his eyes as Vanya headed to her room. As soon as she entered, however, she found her brothers standing right behind her.

"Jesus!" She exclaimed. 

"What's the matter, dear sister? You look like you just saw a ghost!"

At Klaus' comment, Vanya burst into tears.

"Oh, shit, Vanya!" Klaus quickly took her into his arms. "I didn't mean to make you cry." He looked helplessly at Diego.

"I'm sorry." Vanya pulled away and tried to compose herself. 

Then Diego rested his hand on her shoulder. "Vanya. Talk to us."

Vanya shook her head. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Yes, it is," Diego insisted. "Come on. Isolating ourselves was what got us into that whole big mess."

Vanya nodded in agreement. She sat on her bed, and Diego and Klaus sat on each side of her as she told them of the news she had just received. "I know it's stupid to react this way about a guy I hadn't seen in over ten years, especially after what Leonard did."

"It's not stupid," Diego said. "And besides, that is very young to die."

"Hey," Klaus piped up. "Do you want me to try to conjure him? Find out what happened?"

Vanya pondered the possibility of facing that narcissistic jerk. She didn't want to, but perhaps it would bring closure to Jasmine. "I don't know," she admitted. "I just...well, I had always hoped he would turn his life around. I guess that if he died in his early thirties, I guess not. But I don't know how I'd react to seeing him."

"Well, I don't think you have to worry about sending the Academy tumbling down again," Klaus smiled.

Diego reached around Vanya and smacked Klaus in the back of his head. "Don't bring that up again!"

"No, it's okay," Vanya said. "I have to own up to what I did."

"Vanya," Diego interjected, "That wasn't all your fault, and we don't need to rehash this all over again."

"I just wanna know...how will I ever know who's right for me? Rick was my only other relationship besides Leonard."

Vanya saw a hint of sadness in Klaus' eyes. It was about a week after the averted apocalypse that Klaus had finally opened up to the family about his time in 'Nam. That was the first time Five had apologized about his obnoxious behavior, as according to Klaus Five had called Klaus a moron for destroying the briefcase. "You just know," Klaus said.

"That, and, any dude that you meet, I'm going to thoroughly check out," Diego insisted. 

"Do you want me to conjure this guy when you're not around and have him tell me himself?" Klaus offered. 

"I guess for the sake of his son, you should," Vanya said.

"Come on." Diego stood up and grabbed Vanya's hand. "Let's go for a drive and Klaus can try to get him."

"What's the name again?" Klaus asked Vanya.

"Rick Lowenstein."

Klaus paused. "Somehow that name is familiar to me. You sure he was just an alcoholic?"

"Yeah, as far as I knew, he didn't have a drug problem." Vanya stood up, her hand still in Diego's. 

"Oh, Bentacles!" Klaus called out. "Can you find me this guy in the afterlife?"

"I'll try," Ben said, only viewable to Klaus.

A few minutes after Vanya and Diego had left the house, a figure all too familiar to Klaus came into view. "You!" He exclaimed. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two hours later, Diego and Vanya returned from their trip to the lake. They immediately headed to Klaus' room to find out if he had made any progress. 

"Well, you guys aren't going to believe this, but it turns out I knew the guy, too," Klaus told them. "Before you ever did."

Vanya's eyes widened. "How?"

Klaus looked at her mournfully. "Rick wasn't just an alcoholic. He gave me my first drug when I was thirteen."

" _ What?! _ " Vanya exclaimed. 

"Jesus," Diego said simultaneously. 

"He was my first crush," Klaus explained. "But when I told him, he said in return that he wasn't into guys. He stopped giving me drugs afterward and kept calling me a faggot."

"Jesus," Vanya slowly sat on the bed next to Klaus. "Are you sure it was the same guy?"

"Brown hair, scrawny-looking. Walked with a limp due to a birth defect."

Vanya nodded. "Wow. I never knew him at all."

"How did he die?" Diego asked Klaus while keeping a comforting hand on his sister's shoulder. 

Klaus looked at Vanya mournfully. "As I suspected, a drug overdose."

Vanya dropped her gaze while Diego gave her shoulder an extra squeeze. "I'm an idiot. I just attract liars and deadbeats."

"Hey. Don't talk that way about yourself," Diego softly ordered.

Klaus wiped a single tear that ran down Vanya's face. "Diego's right, Honey."

"How am I ever going to trust another man?" Vanya cried.

"Hey. It's just gonna take time," Diego said quietly. "We're all still dealing with all of the shit that went down last month."

Vanya looked pleadingly at Diego. "Are you  _ sure _ you forgive me?"

"Yes, Vanya. Whatever was inside you that day, that wasn't you."

"I mean, about the book. I never should've written it."

Diego knelt down in front of Vanya and took her hands. "Yes, Vanya. I know we all understand each other a lot better now. What's done is done. You just have to forgive yourself."

"He's right," Klaus squeezed her shoulder.

She wiped her eyes. "Well, I'd better go call Jasmine." She stood up and exited Klaus' bedroom. 

"So, who knew that you'd turn into such a softie, Numero Dos?" Klaus batted his eyes at his brother. 

"Shut up, Number Four," Diego snarked as he left the room himself. But Klaus was right. And every day since the cancelled apocalypse, Diego thanked the...well, according to Klaus, the little girl upstairs...for giving all of the siblings another chance at life.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> So, I just found out that an ex of mine passed, actually a few years ago. There are some similarities and differences between this story and the real-life situation. I don't know how he passed, and I'm not sure if he had a drug problem, but he was very much an alcoholic. Despite the turbulent relationship we actually had managed to stay friends. Because I moved from the area near where he lived we eventually lost contact. I had hoped he would turn his life around, too. So I hope I can eventually heal from this, too. 
> 
> Also having a difficult time in general. I'm in the United States, where COVID is still very much out of control.


End file.
